Presumed winners: Google, consumers.

Presumed losers: Telecoms and the Congressmen they fund.

Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Joe Barton (R-Tex.) want to see the auction go to the highest bidder with no strings attached. A report on Internet News cited the two Congressmen as opposing Google’s ideas about the future of the 700 MHz wireless spectrum:

“I think the fewer fetters you have in terms of conditions on the auction, the more open the process and the better its going to be,” (Barton) said. “I also think you’re going to get more money if you do it that way.”

“The free market works best. If Google is really right that there is market demand for their model, they should be lining up to bid in a fair auction, without these requirements,” Upton said.

Game time, folks, courtesy of the fine people behind OpenSecrets. Let’s start with the Texan. Among Barton’s top 20 contributors for the most recent election cycle, we have Comcast (#1), Verizon (tied for 10th), AT&T (14), and Sprint Nextel (tied for 15th).

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, along with AT&T and Comcast, rates as one of Barton’s all-time biggest campaign contributors.

Now let’s take a look at Upton’s top 20 in the recent cycle. AT&T (2), Verizon (3), National Cable & Telecommunications Association (6), Comcast (tied for 7th), Qwest (tied for 7th), and Sprint Nextel (tied for 19th).

Upton’s first and second best career contributors have been AT&T and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, respectively.

I’d like to note to our readers that I didn’t even bother checking OpenSecrets for the information when I started writing this article. When I got to the point where I wanted to include OpenSecrets data, I looked it up then.

I knew what I’d find before looking, just as with every other time I’ve written something about the tech industry and Capitol Hill’s opinions about it. As Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in the Sherlock Holmes’ classic, A Study in Scarlet, “There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.”

Barton’s and Upton’s opinions sounded like they came from men whose campaigns received substantial backing from organizations sharing those thoughts. No surprise, that proved to be the case.

Resource Shelf noted the opening of the latest feature on OpenSecrets. The 2008 Presidential Election pages have opened, showing the massive fundraising that takes place throughout the various campaigns.

“Running for president is a bit like running a medium-sized business for two years, and the overall race amounts to a decent-sized industry,” OpenSecrets said in its announcement.

People can visit the Presidential pages to see the dollar amounts raised and spent by the candidates. It’s equally interesting to see where that money goes. OpenSecrets found overall that virtually 58 percent of the cash goes right back into administrative costs, while 18 percent made it to campaign expenses.

Contributions from selected industries can be viewed in lists that show who has picked up how much. Clinton, Romney, and Obama are the big winners in Computer/Internet money, while Rudy Giuliani leads in Casinos/Gambling contributions received.

Another feature shows how candidates have fared in state by state fundraising. In the WebProNews home state of Kentucky, Obama leads Clinton, but trails her and John Edwards in Lexington. Similar data is available for each state.

House Passes Weak Spyware Bill

A bill supported by the software industry will go to the Senate for consideration. The Internet Spyware Protection Act provides for five-year jail terms for using spyware fraudulently.

What it doesn’t do is provide for penalties for failing to clearly notify consumers of what they are downloading, or failing to obtain consumer consent. A Reuters report noted how the I-SPY bill lacks those stronger provisions, which were present in a competing piece of legislation.

"It targets the worst forms of spyware without unduly burdening technological innovation," said Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, chief sponsor of the bill which passed on a voice vote.

It was a bill the tech industry wanted, and it isn’t surprising to see Lofgren’s name on it. Her profile at OpenSecrets showed the Computer/Internet industry has donated nearly $360,000 to her campaigns, tops among her industry donors.

DM News also noted that the National Retailer Federation and the Direct Marketing Association supported Lofgren’s bill.